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Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. Also this story is a lemon fiction therefore is intended for people of a legal age from wherever they come from. So if these type of stories offend then stop reading now. Thanks.


Little Black Book: Chapter 12

The Magnificent Green Beast

Events of this chapter take place shortly before 102 of Eroninja


Maito Gai stood within the large Coliseum of Ruin, and listened with half an ear as the announcer listed off the recent accomplishments that he had achieved within it. Which despite it having only been a week since his own student had faced Naruto there, were growing by leaps and bounds as word of the shinobi’s appearance had spread far and wide. As a result, many of the more skilled adventurers who had been facing the challenges of the Frontier had sent letters of challenge to him. Gai had readily accepted most of them often to the tune of several fights a day, and had already made a small fortune having even faced several famous Adventurer teams by himself and had triumphed over them. Still, while that had only seemed to spur on his challengers, in truth Gai was feeling quite underwhelmed by the challenges. Mainly as while most of the warriors that he was currently facing were rather proficient, he had felt more pressured at the start of his run when he had supposedly been facing rank amateurs then at present. He attributed this to although many of the teams were varied in the threats that they posed, dealing with them often followed the same steps, with him first eliminating the members of the backrow, who were usually in charge of buffing or healing the frontline fighters along with launching offensive spells. Which all depended on the Class path that they were following. Then with them eliminated, it was usually just a matter of focusing on the frontline fighters. Granted, his current challengers were now aware of his strategy, and many were beginning to adapt to it by creating new formations to use when challenging him. But, all in all Gai felt it would probably be too little, too late to truly refire the passion that he felt for the battles since it would take weeks, if not months, of practice in using them before they would be proficient enough to truly challenge him. Not that he imagined the adventurers would commit the time to it since it was readily apparent that whatever horrors the frontier had. Most of them were probably lacking the mental facilities to truly analyze their opponents, and determine where best to strike in order to cause a team to collapse.


Gai fought back a frown as he considered that he may have been the cause of his own team’s collapse, although admittedly it had been quite a while since all of Team Gai had participated on a mission together. His fear of how Lee had taken his indirect confession was perhaps one of the reasons that he had lingered within the Land of Ruins as Lee had left the day after his match with Naruto, having taken a wagon back due to the injuries that he had sustained. Gai, naturally had offered to go with him, but Lee had emotionlessly told him that he wanted to travel on his own. he had tried to remain his upbeat self, as he told his protégé that he understood, as most warriors often sought solitude in order reflect after a loss. But told Lee not to allow it to dishearten him. His student had simply accepted the advice with a nod before silently boarding the wagon which had then begun its trek for the Ruin Border.


Gai figured the lingering amount of distress he felt over the matter was his penance for taking such a cowardly way of coming clean to Lee, since he knew the young man had been eavesdropping as he had explained himself to Tenten. Still, he hoped that in time that Lee would understand that the only reason he had undertaken such a risky plan was because he had possessed faith in his charge’s abilities, and that the reason he hadn’t explained all his reasoning for teaching him how to open the chakra gates had been to not put undo pressure on him. Then later, there had been no reason due to his defeat by Gaara in the preliminary round to the Third exam, and Naruto ultimately achieving the goal of getting Neji to see and acknowledge the defeatist mindset that he had possessed. Naturally, a reason for his silence had been to avoid making Lee feel as if he had let him down by not achieving the additional goal of besting Neji in the hopes of getting him to look at the world and his place in it differently. Particularly as Lee had already been dealing with the pressure of how the injuries that he had sustained had at the time made it look like he would need to quit being a shinobi.


At the time, Gai hadn’t felt any real guilt over Lee’s injuries, as he had long accepted that teaching how to open the Eight Gates could potentially be harmful to him. A fact that he had extensively explained to his student before they had begun. But, truthfully he knew that he would have to, particularly if Lee was to have any chance of fulfilling his dream, and hopefully living to a nice ripe retirement age. Since while he did believe that his student would be able to become a shinobi while relying on Taijutsu alone, surviving as one was another matter entirely. That was unless Lee was willing to accept assignments that most genin received for the majority of his life, and even then he’d need the occasional ace in the hole when the unforeseen complication arose, as had been evidenced by Lee needing to fall back to opening the gates several times throughout his career.


Moreover, Gai had attributed his lack of guilt over the aftermath of Lee’s match with Gaara as having been due to if things had worked out as expected, and Neji had been his protégé’s opponent, he doubted the Hyuuga would have put up nearly as fierce a fight as Gaara had. Particularly considering how at the speeds Lee was capable of moving back then when his gates were open, he doubted even Neji’s rotation would have been of much use as the green clad, at the time genin, would have been able to knock him out of it before he had completed a spin.


Still, that wasn’t to say he had been unaffected by his student’s injuries, and he suspected that is why in some way he believed the bitterness that Lee had begun to harbor towards Naruto had been his fault. This was because he felt that where he had truly failed Lee was in failing to give him the tools to continue progressing as a shinobi. This was because while many would likely have considered his teaching Lee how to open the Eight Gates to be extremely reckless of him, which Gai admitted was a very valid reaction considering the double edged sword nature of the technique. Gai suspected that the reason he hadn’t received any pushback to his decision in the aftermath of the exams had been because ultimately Lee’s match against Gaara had demonstrated the exact reason why his knowing it had proven beneficial. As even as horribly injured as he had been after the match, Lee had faced a vastly superior opponent and while he hadn’t pushed Gaara past his limits, the surprise behind his sudden offensive barrage had almost allowed him to edge out a victory.


Yet, despite the exams ultimately showing why it had been wise of him to teach Lee the technique, and Tsunade’s arrival having removed the harmfully consequences of his having used it. Gai now realized that his fondness for Lee had resulted in his failing him as he hadn’t been willing to push the young man harder by giving him more tools. Granted, Lee hadn’t really appeared to have the same fire of youth in the aftermath of the exams as he had before, which he attributed to his student allowing his fellow supposed underdog Naruto’s achievements during and after the exam to in essence at least be his as well. That wasn’t to say that Lee had slacked off in how much work he had put in, only that in the time since the exams he had been running along the same plateau that he had long since climbed to, whereas Naruto had searched for the next mountain to conquer. A situation that to his shame, he had allowed since he knew that not all mountains to come could or would be safely climbed.


Thus, Gai accepted that in that way he had failed Lee and as such bore some responsibility in how bitter his student had become towards Naruto. As over time even if Lee had felt that Naruto’s victories had at last proven the notion that underdogs like them had a shot at reaching the same heights as the naturally gifted, he had begun to notice that more and more of his colleagues were beginning to leave him behind regardless of how much he trained. As a result, he had begun to grown bitter towards the underdog that had first demonstrated to him that the things he had believed but had been unable to achieve on his own were possible. He had then begun to look for reasons why Naruto would be so much more successful, and admittedly would find that many of the reasons the Uzumaki would be classified as underdog would be a result of the blond’s own lack of focus in terms of his studies, but also attributed to misconceptions brought about not so much by lies, but the truth about him being deliberately hidden. However, Gai accepted that it was Lee’s own bitterness which ultimately allowed his student to cling to those misconceptions about Naruto as excuses for his own lack of progress. Although, he knew that there was more that he should have done to guide his student towards the next challenge that he would need to face in order to get stronger.


He pushed such thoughts out of his head as two large metal doors opposite from him began to open inward to reveal the next opponent that he would face in the arena. He smiled as Tenten stepped out and received a hero’s welcome as the crowd went wild. As although she had also been making a name for herself in the arena, at the expense of the adventurers that called Ruin home, in the bout about to take place between them the local promoters had cast her as the face of it having dubbed it the match between Beauty and the Beast.


He supposed he couldn’t fault the promoters for dubbing it as such, nor the crowd for how they were obviously favoring Tenten due to the cheers they were giving her. After all, although she had also racked up a considerable number of wins in the arena, due to her accuracy she often wasn’t as tough on her foes as he ended up being with most of her opponents not even needing to visit the local temple for treatment. She achieved this by using blunted weapons which she coated the edge of with a ink, which wouldn’t dry upon being sealed away, and so when an opponent was hit the referee calling the match would be able to determine what kind of injury it would be. Which more often than not considering her accuracy would be fatal, thus even unarmored opponents that faced her would escape with little more than a few bruises. He also suspected the reason the crowd was favoring her was because they had more respect for her abilities, after all although Gai had proved himself to be extremely proficient in taijutsu, in the current setting he didn’t need to be all that flashy considering his life wasn’t on the line. Not to mention there were classes within the adventurer system which relied on their fist in a similar manner as he had displayed. By contrast, Tenten’s ability to summon weapons on the fly, was likely a magic that most of the local adventurers couldn’t even begin to understand, and while there were items in Ruin which allowed some supporter classes to carry more items then the size of the bags they wore would suggest, from his understanding making them was the work of master craftsmen and they tended to be priced accordingly.


Plus, in a few cases where they had faced the same opponent, Gai suspected that the crowd had been far more impressed by Tenten’s victories. The first of which had been a man who was covered from head to toe in armor, and while Gai had been victorious in the battle, he had left the man’s armor a dented mess. But, as there were monks in Ruin who could do the same thing, he doubted many people had been overly impressed. However, when he had faced Tenten a few days later, the bout had lasted only a few seconds as she had hit his eye sockets with some darts that had suction cups affixed to the end. To the warrior’s credit, he had immediately conceded recognizing that it hadn’t been luck which had it been a real battle would have left him blind, if he had been lucky. The other match had been against a team, that when Gai had faced them he had targeted a young muscle bound man using a two handed battle axe first as his instincts had told him the warrior was the most dangerous. He had followed through on this since even though he had been using a blunted weapon, considering the weight of the axe head even a block could have resulted in his bones breaking. When Tenten had faced them, she had instead concentrated on eliminating the support elements of his team while keeping her distance. Gai had been under the impression that she had done this so that she could then close with the warrior and engage him in Taijutsu. He believed she had done so as a way to test herself, and the taijutsu that she had picked up from her time as Tsunade’s apprentice. Which although Tenten lacked the precise chakra control to properly utilize the Hokage’s technique, Tsunade was still one of the most skilled practitioners of taijutsu even without her incredible strength. Tenten’s decision to engage the warrior had ended up proving to be a folly, as due to the frustration he had been feeling at his team’s elimination and his inability to score a decisive blow against her, he had ended up entering a kind of berserker rage. The announcer of the match had been kind enough to explain the danger that Tenten found herself in as he explained how those lost to their bloodlust tended to continue on until they either died from the injuries they sustained, or they ran out of people to kill. Pluton who had been in attendance had immediately called the match, and had even given the order for some nearby archers to eliminate the Warrior, which would have likely ended in his death. However, before they had even picked up their bows Tenten had leapt away and while still in the air had unsealed over two dozen or so senbon which she had effortlessly caught and then sent flying into the warrior so that by the time she had landed he had slumped to his knees. Where to the crowds amazement, although he had still raged and cursed at her, with the metal puncturing many of his joints it was apparent that he was effectively locked into place. She had then run over so that she could get a better angle on the warrior’s neck, which she targeted as she launched two more senbon into it. Which at first had left the crowd likely believing that she had killed him, but when a priest had approached, he had obviously been shocked to find that the warrior was still alive as he called several other priests towards him to verify his findings. Word had eventually gotten around town that despite how the warrior had looked like a pincushion by the time she had finished, she hadn’t struck a single vital point.


As a result of that match, Tenten had found the challenges that she was receiving had overnight dropped almost completely to zero as many of the Adventurers had come to the conclusion that she had been holding back. Not that Gai could blame them as while it had been quite apparent that they were holding back in the sense that the matches were not death battles, at least previously the Adventurers had likely held out some hope of eventually scoring a victory over the shinobi. After all, Naruto and Lee’s match had to the locals appeared to be nothing but an extremely fast paced taijutsu battle for the most part, and so the Adventurers had believed that with the right set of items and teamwork even facing one of those two, they could have perhaps edged out a victory. Much the same could be said when facing him, as he had limited himself to Taijutsu and had not exerted himself nearly as hard as Naruto or Lee had in their match when he had crushed the Adventurers at the guild hall when he had been uncovered. However, Tenten had likely shattered that feeling in regards towards herself, since he imagined that the Adventurers had come to the conclusion that there could be no victory against a woman that could summon a seemingly endless supply of weapons, and could hit anyone within throwing range with near perfect accuracy. Moreover, even those who would operate outside of those ranges, such as wizards or archers, had learned that thanks to a low level techniques like the Substitution Jutsu even should they strike at her, it would only allow for her to suddenly appear near them where she could quickly eliminate them.


Tenten came to a stop in front of him, although further away than most opponents typically had when facing him one on one. A decision that didn’t surprise him since in terms of the Adventurers often used, she would have typically been on the backrow due to her reliance on weapons. Still, she wasn’t lined up as far back as they would typically put their support players or spellcasters, just enough that if he did decide to charge in, she would be able to fire off a quick kunai or senbon to dissuade him.


Gai felt a small thrill as Pluton began announcing the match to the crowd, before directing his attention to them in order to check to see if they were ready to begin as while he had witness all of his former student’s matches in the arena, and thus whenever she had chosen to use Taijutsu, it had been easy for him to see Tsunade’s influences in her movements. However, of Naruto there had been very little, which had surprised him considering the amount of time the Uzumaki had spent training with her as of late. Which didn’t so much surprise him in the case of Tenten’s use of Taijutsu since while Naruto was obviously no slouch in the department, he would classify the blond’s real strength as being in terms of his ninjutsu and so had expected to see his former student begin to incorporate more ninjutsu techniques into her fighting style. Having found that wasn’t the case, it left him wondering just what the pair had been working on. Gai had a feeling he’s soon find out, and so tried to prepare himself for whatever surprise Tenten had in store for him.


Still, he was somewhat caught flatfooted when as soon as Pluton had announced for them to begin, a knife had slid down from Tenten’s sleeve which she easily caught, and then moving her arm in an upward motion had tossed it at him. Gai frowned as rather than flying in a straight line towards him, Tenten had tossed it so that it spun through the air and more to the point had been tossed at the spot he had just been standing. Having sparred with the kunoichi hundreds of times over the years, he knew that even though she would effectively have to guess in which direction he would takeoff, if she had intended to hit him she would have attempted to lead him so her projectiles would connect with where he was moving. Granted, that left quite a few trajectories that she would need to cover which was why typically she would open with senbon or shuriken so she could cover several of them. Not a weapon that due to the spinning manner in which it was traveling through the air, would only require him to move forward or backward slightly to possibly avoid it sticking him. After all, although he had only seen it for a moment, it was apparent that the knife only had a single sharp edge. Meaning Tenten’s aim had needed to be exceptionally on point or she’d need to have been extremely lucky for it to have hit him in any way that could be considered debilitating. Granted if anyone could have, Gai would have said she could, but he also had taught her that such a technique was not ideal for hitting fast moving opponents since hitting them meant she would need to take in all kind of additional factors such as the number of rotations the knife would make during its flight in order to ensure the pointy end struck the target, which would impact how she would need to hold the weapon. Not easy feats in the heat of battle, although certain weapons inevitably required her to learn it such as throwing axes and the like. Still, he had taught her to rely on such weapons primarily when striking at unaware targets or perhaps as a follow up after her target had already begun moving as then her extraordinary ability would be more apt to allow her to connect.


Gai felt a tingle along the back of his neck, which he attributed to the concern that Tenten’s opening move was some part of a greater strategy. Although, he was given no time to consider what as he found that perhaps the strange choice of weapon that she had opened with had been a gambit made to throw him off due to their familiarity with one another, as he noticed two senbon closing with him along the trajectory he was taking. He felt a brief moment of pride as he felt that Tenten’s choice of weapon had been meant to confuse him enough that her follow up senbon would slip past his notice. Particularly, as it had nearly worked since if he had noticed them a heartbeat later the match would effectively have been over, as they would have impacted at where his heart would be. But, having noticed them, he allowed himself to fall into a forward roll so that they passed over him.


Gai was back on his feet in an instant, and half expected several more follow up attacks. Which he received, although not in the form that he had expected as Tenten had chosen to close with him, and as she was now armed with a pair of knives similar to the one that she had first tossed at him, he found himself on the defensive as she swung them at him. Gai was impressed by how far Tenten had come as he avoided her blades as she tried to slice him, and found it hard to get a rhythm of his own going as he needed to avoid them by a wider margin then he may typically have due to her having Wind Natured chakra. A precaution he didn’t really need to make due to the nature of the combat taking place, since if she could channel her chakra into her blades it would effectively end him. But, wanting to treat the match as seriously as possible, felt it was only fair.


But, while he could do that because of his familiarity with the young woman, and her abilities. He again felt some growing concern as her decision to close with him was not something that he would have expected from her even with her tutelage under the Hokage, whose influence he easily felt as she waved the blades in a similar manner as he had seen medics such as Sakura or Shizune when using the chakra scalpel technique. Suspecting that what Tenten had learned from the Hokage had been an early style the Sanin had developed before fully perfecting her medical ninjutsu, and then in turn eventually developing the incredible power which she was famous for, Gai felt his former student’s choice of weapon to emulate that style was lacking. Particularly since the chakra scalpel that Konoha medic’s were famous for, were dangerous regardless of the direction the hand wielding the technique was swung. Moreover, even though a regular blade would never be able to cut as effortlessly as a chakra scalpel unless augmented by chakra in some way, Tenten had decided on using blades that only had the edge on one side, and while most would perhaps consider it a relatively simple fix of just adjusting the direction the blade was facing, his former student would be aware that in those moments of adjustment a skilled warrior would be able to attack with almost relative impunity due to the safe window which would appear.


One such window arrived, when a forward moving Tenten swiped at him using the blade she held in her right hand in a wide arc that left it out of position away from her body as he easily pulled his upper body back enough to avoid it. This left his left leg as a tempting target which the kunoichi swiped at with the blade in her left hand as she attempted to slash along his thigh, but Gai already having anticipated as much quickly pulled it back out of range, and when her blade passed through the spot quickly pushed forward now that both blades were out of position. Tenten tried to close the window as she rotated the handle of the blades, and brought them forward in an effort to catch him between them. But, Gai was too quick as he spun to face his back towards her before jamming his elbow into her stomach, which he followed up by rotating the arm it was attached to up so that the back of his fist connected with her face as it came forward as a result of his first attack.


Tenten stumbled back as Gai spun to face her again, and for a moment was glad that he had done so as one of the blades that Tenten wielded flew past him. He spent a moment marveling at his student as even dazed as she should have been, she managed to throw one of her blades. Still, he figured that the hits she had sustained had rattled her some, as he felt even if he had remained still it would have missed. Although, to be fair to her, he recognized that if he had spun in the opposite direction it likely would have hit him. But again he felt that something was amiss, almost like he was walking into a trap that he had yet to detect.


Charging towards Tenten as she brought her remaining blade in front of her to ward off the follow up attacks that he was moving in to deliver, he spent the time he had to review what had just happened. Running the point in time where the knife had flow past him through his memory slowly, he tried to analyze the details and noticed that Tenten’s aim had been deliberate as she had thrown it after she had stumbled back several steps from his last attack. Again, he realized that she could have effectively been guessing in which direction he would have broken, and she had just chosen poorly. Yet, while Gai had spun to his left as he turned to face her almost on instinct, it was a decision that had been honed from years of combat, and had recognized that considering the style of weapon she was using, the hardest way to throw it accurately would be across her body, and although she had become ambidextrous through training, considering the hits that she had taken prior he figured that she’d default to her dominant hand.


Again the feeling that he was missing something gripped him, and so he focused his mind on picking out the details of the knife as it flew by in his replay, and for the first time noticed some sort of design on the handle of the blade. He felt a spike of concern as although it had been altered slightly, he recognized it as a Hiraishin seal. Gai was able to recognize that it wasn’t the same exact seal as had been used by the Fourth Hokage, although it was closer in appearance to it then it was to the one that the Second Hokage had originally developed. Gai having dedicated hundred if not thousands of hours into the study of the Hiraishin seal, much as he had into the study of the Sharingan and its abilities, in order to achieve his own goals of being the most proficient shinobi alive in the art of Taijutsu, recognized that the changes the Fourth Hokage had made had allowed him to apply the seal to inanimate objects such as kunai. While some would consider this to be a relatively minor change, it had allowed the Fourth to become known as the Yellow Flash of Konoha as the Second Hokage’s initial seal had required it to be placed on a living thing as it required the chakra of the one it was planted on to allow him to locate it in order to teleport. The Fourth’s design could either be made to hold a charge when created for a considerable time, or picked it up when the kunai or weapon it was applied to was wielded which would alert him to the owner likely needing his aid, and had proven beneficial when for example Kakashi had used the one that he had received upon becoming a Jounin in a last ditch effort to defend Rin and himself during their disastrous mission to destroy Kannabi Bridge. Kakashi’s throwing of the kunai had been what had activated the seal, and alerted the Fourth Hokage to the danger his team was in.


While this addition to the seal had been groundbreaking, and allowed the Fourth Hokage to build a fearsome reputation. In truth, Gai felt that if he had ever faced the Fourth in combat, he would come out the victor. He knew many would scoff at the notion, but while the innovation to the seal had allowed the Flying Thudergod Jutsu to be used in new ways, he felt it hadn’t done enough to combat the primary weakness that the jutsu possessed, namely that as long as one remained cognizant of the seals in play one could effectively guess where the user would appear. After all, one reason the Second Hokage despite being the creator of the jutsu had never achieved the same level of fame as his predecessor was because it had hardly proven to be the trump card that it had been for the Fourth. Mainly as once the Second had marked a target, the moment his target realized that, they could take steps to remove it, or perhaps even work it into their own strategies in order to bait the Second into using it in order to counterattack. Even the Fourth Hokage’s use of it had shown this to be a possibility as evidenced by an encounter he had with the current host of the Eight Tails, and the Fourth Raikage. The battle had ended in a stalemate when the Hokage had attempted to attack Killer Bee from behind, but the Jinchuriki recognizing that he had been marked had anticipated an attack from behind and so had angled his sword backwards. Had the Fourth followed through with his attack, he may have possibly killed the jinchuriki, although it is doubtful considering Killer Bee’s reputation of being the first perfected one, but he would have needed to trade his own life in the process.


Gai began to suspect that Tenten had chosen the blades as her own means of using the Hiraishin jutsu that Naruto had now mastered, and was tossing them so as to lure him into a false sense of security due to his being unaware of the seals that had been applied to the handles. He felt a small smirk appear as he believed that he had ferreted out her intentions, but something at the back of his mind continued to nag at him. Still, having reached Tenten, he directed the entirety of his focus on his opponent since she wouldn’t need to rely on the Hiraishin if he got sloppy, and she ended up stabbing him with the blade she still wielded.


Tenten used her remaining blade in a defensive manner as she swiped at him whenever a part of him ventured in too close to her liking. She kept the blade swipes swift and short, although Gai still managed to land several shots as his fists slipped past her guard. He wasn’t able to put his entire weight or power behind them, since he also need to rely on speed as even after he connected, her blade would quickly come in to swipe at the appendage. A fact that he was reminded of as Tenten baited a jab out of him, and having anticipated it ducked beneath the blow as she charged forward, swiped the blade along the side of his torso as she passed by.


Gai tried to prevent it from cutting too deeply as he attempted to angle himself away and succeeded for the most part as evidenced by how rather than the ink applied to the edge leaving a clear line across his tracksuit, it was a broken dotted one instead. Still he quickly spun to face her again, and his eyes went wide as he saw her blade was flying in the general direction of his head. Still, despite how close it had come, he immediately recognized that she had missed on purpose since he had not even needed to move in order to avoid it, and although she was using a blunted training weapon, if she had been going for a kill shot, she would have aimed for the center of his chest. Namely, as even blunted the weight of the weapons could cause serious damage and injuries if aimed for an opponent’s head, and while accidents could happen with her skill they generally didn’t.


He tensed as with his belief that she had intended to miss, he expected that she would Hiraishin in order to attack him from a blind spot. However, instead she simply made a quick hand sign and a moment later two more of the blades appeared likely due to seals drawn on the fingerless gloves that she was wearing. Gai openly frowned as he couldn’t truly understand her behavior. Initially, he had believed that the three blades that she had previously tossed had been a ruse in order to get him to drop his guard so she could get a kill shot at his back. Yet, seeing that she intended to follow through on the same plan again, he found it difficult to believe. Particularly due to how despite the briefness of their exchanges it was clear that he was still the stronger taijutsu user. He reasoned that Tenten might just be viewing the bout between them as a simple training match, and so was just looking to test her taijutsu against his. But, then he wondered why she would go through the effort of applying the Hiraishin seal to the blades that she was wielding. He considered the possibility that perhaps it was simply a means of faking him out, and getting him to concentrate on an attack from behind when the real danger was right in front of him. However, he quickly abandoned that idea since it would require Tenten to realize that he had studied the seal, and so would recognize a variant of it had been placed on the handle of her blade.


This led him to consider the possibility that what she had been busy doing by tossing her blades had been lacing the arena with traps, so that rather than attacking from a blade that she was in the process of tossing at him, she would instead appear near one that she had thrown previously counting on him to have lost place of where her projectiles had landed. He felt the frown he wore begin to turn upright, as he had been the one to train her in never losing track of where her weapons had landed as knowing where and which one she was near at any time could mean the difference between life and death. As such, while he hadn’t tracked each ones’ trajectory, he had been confident that each of them would be near the arena wall so figured that unless Tenten had a means of forcing the fight towards the edge of the arena, imagined that he could keep them out of play.


Yet again his instincts were screaming at him that he was missing something, and quickly reasoned that with her skill Tenten could have easily placed their landing spots far closer, and thus created a situation where not only did he need to be mindful of her, but also treat the blades with a more wary consideration. That was when he noticed something beyond Tenten’s shoulder sticking out of the arena wall, and quickly realized that while he was right in her having tossed them hard enough to reach the arena wall, the reason was because the wall had been her target all along as rather than having bounced off to fall in the dirt, it was sticking in it. Which naturally meant she had charged the blades with the wind nature that her chakra possessed so that even though blunted, they would stick in the stone. Scanning the wall behind her, he found another of the blades was sticking out in the same fashion, and imagined the same could be the said about the two that were likely currently behind him. He doubted the placement of them were random, and quickly knew he was right as Tenten upon seeing where his gaze was directed, surmised that he was likely on the cusp of realizing what she was up to, and so angling herself so that when she tossed the blades that she currently wielded they flew away from her in opposite directions and when they impacted the arena wall, left about an equal distance between them and the next blade over from them on either side.


Tenten quickly then reached behind her, and a poof of smoke appeared as she activated the scroll strapped to the small of her back, and when the weapon she had unsealed emerged, he saw that it was a wooden replica of the Blue Dragon Polearm that she had procured several years earlier. Then after bringing it before her in a ready position, she disappeared in a golden flash. For a moment, Gai was caught flatfooted as he anticipated she would emerge near one of the blades she had embedded into the wall, especially considering she had not tossed another one. But, then his instincts screamed at him to dive forward as a flash appeared behind him, he did just the opposite as he leapt backwards just as Tenten’s polearm passed through the spot a forward roll would have taken him. He was pleased to see she was caught somewhat unaware as her wooden weapon sliced through nothing but air, and as he landed quickly rolled back onto his feet where he launched himself into a spinning kick meant to swat her out of the air.


Tenten disappeared again so that it was his turn to whiff, but almost immediately she reappeared behind him with her polearm already held back in preparation for another swing. Gai had anticipated as much, and so had made sure his kick would spin him around to face her, which allowed him to catch her weapon by the shaft as she swung it. Tenten’s eyes widen as she realized her mistake since with his having a hold on it, she wouldn’t be able to teleport without bringing him along so long as she intended to take the weapon, and as she had appeared slightly above him, he would hit the ground first thus preventing her from directing his fall. Therefore, she did the sensible thing as she abandoned her hold on the weapon before disappearing in a golden flash. Gai landed on the ground as he took possession of the polearm, and began spinning it around him in a wild flourish, partly for the crowds’ benefit, but also as a precaution just in case Tenten appeared in his vicinity again.


But, when she did reappear it was a considerable distance away, where she again unsealed some weapons from her scroll. This time when her hands appeared from the smoke, she was holding four senbon in each of her fists as they poked up from between her fingers. She then brought the senbon before her so that they acted as her fingers while she created two shadow clones, which promptly charged forward towards him. Gai smiled as he began to see the elements of her time with Naruto appearing in her attack, not to mention the tactics that were about to be used against him and realizing something else, planted the shaft of the polearm in the dirt as he shouted, “I yield!”


Tenten’s clones were caught by surprise, as if they couldn’t decide to press the attack in case it was some kind of ploy. But, they then poofed from existence as the crowd began booing him due to the lackluster manner in which the match had ended. Gai could see Tenten was torn between disbelief and perhaps dissatisfaction herself with how he had yielded. But as her eyes scanned the booing crowd, the feelings seemed to fade quickly which Gai attributed to one of the few individuals cheering for her. Following her gaze, he was somewhat surprised to see that Naruto was currently wearing the Paladin armor that he had used to blend in with the adventurers during their mission to Ruin. Tenten allowed a wide smile to appear as she waved back to the blond who was doing his best to drown out the jeers, and finally succeeded when he created an army of shadow clones which occupied almost every free spot in the arena stands.


********************************************************


Gai sat alone in the luxury suite that he was renting using his winnings from his previous arena matches. He was currently studying one of several scrolls that he had borrowed, with permission, from the Guild Hall’s collection. This particular one detailed some of the basic and advanced martial art forms used by one of Ruin’s Monk Sects. Having face a few monks during his arena matches, he had been impressed by their skill, if not so much by their effectiveness. Something which had intrigued him, since he assumed that most of the monks would be stronger then many of their fellow adventurers as he believed they would have a decade or more of training to call on prior to their joining a party. But, from studying the scrolls, he believed that the monks teachings suffered from the same lack of understanding of chakra that their fellow adventurers possessed. Something which Gai found to be rather strange considering how most monks outside of Ruin were quite well versed in chakra, and in many cases were more proficient in its usage due to their pursuing knowledge in both the spiritual and marital aspects of it. Of course many monks outside of Ruin were former shinobi who shaved their heads and took the vows upon retiring with quite a few seeking atonement for the violence they had committed during their lives. Which was one of the main reasons the various religious sects were so rarely roused to war, with most monks who did end up taking up arms usually doing so in support of peasants being mistreated. But, even those cases were few and far between as even corrupt and horrible Daimyo or local lords would often be overlooked by them as just being a part of the natural order of suffering one encountered throughout their karmic cycles.


Putting the scroll down, he closed his eyes and wondered why Ruin’s monks seemed so far behind the curve in terms of understanding chakra. After all, it was easy to overlook the other classes as being due to their being more specialized depending on the role they would play in a party. For example, the spell casters who generally occupied the back row naturally tended to rely on chakra the most, although they called it mana, and so those naturally gifted tended to quickly develop those gifts, while failing to understand that while practicing their spells was a good way to increase their reserves. The peak way to maximize ones chakra had always been a balance between using it to learn the most efficient means to cast a jutsu, and strengthening ones body as well, an aspect of training that almost to a one most spellcasters ignored.


Which was why the state of Ruin’s monks perplexed him so. After all, while it was true most monks were frontline fighters in a party, their dedication to both the spiritual and physical aspects of training should have given them a strong advantage, and many of them did have jutsu that they could call on, although most fell into the healing or buffing categories. He began to suspect that due to how it was a common held belief among ninja scholars that the foundation of the shinobi’s current understanding of chakra had been laid by the Sage of the Six Paths, which to him meant that perhaps what Ruin represented was a world in which the Sage had never appeared. Or, perhaps one that had outrighted rejected the Sage’s teachings, or possibly had even considered them blasphemous. An idea that he found rather intriguing although he wasn’t sure how he would go about proving it, since even among most modern shinobi the Sage of the Six Paths was considered to be little more then a legend or myth.


Opening his eyes once more, he wondered if one of the other scrolls that he had grabbed would perhaps contain some insights into the sects religious beliefs, as maybe he’d be able to see if some of the teachings they had received from their gods or prophets ran counter to the what shinobi were taught. But, before he could delve down the new avenue of research, there was a loud banging against his door.


Gai frowned as from how loud and insistent it was, he doubted the person was a fan. Not that he expected to have many left considering his loss earlier in the day. He smiled as he recalled that Tenten much as he had expected had been rather annoyed at his sudden yielding, and had quickly approached him in the tunnels that run underneath the arena. To his surprise, Pluton had been right behind her with both demanding if he had held back. Gai admitted that he had most certainly had, but could not have pushed the fight any further without it taking on a serious life and death quality which would have endangered the spectators as much as it had the participants. Tenten had been surprised and pleased by the admission, while Pluton having witnessed Naruto having gone all out also found his explanation to be acceptable, and had left to inform the crowd that the loss would stand, as well as any bets made on Tenten’s victory could be paid out.


Gai wondered if perhaps the person banging on his door was one of the people who had bet on him, and having lost was looking for compensation. Keeping that thought in mind, he stood and approached the door, which he opened as if expecting it to be kicked in at any moment. However, to his surprise rather than an angry horde looking for payback, he found his visitor was the scantily clad red-head who had once tried to offer him a drink by smashing the heavy mug it had been served in, into his skull. An occurrence he feared might be about to repeat considering in the hand that had not been banging against his door, she currently held a heavy looking clay jug.


The woman whose name was Risty wore the same frown he had seen on her face while he had attended Tenten’s victory celebration, and deepened as she took in his tense demeanor which prompted her to ask, “Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?”


Gai tried not to frown at her in response, and instead replied jovially, “That depends, is that jug you are carrying a weapon, or an offering?”


Risty looked down as if she had forgotten all about it, but a small smirk appeared for a moment as she answered, “I suppose that depends on you.” But, it quickly disappeared as Gai stepped aside to allow her to enter. Once she stepped in, he kept his back to her as he closed the door feeling that if she was going to attack him again, it would be best to get it out of the way. But, somewhat to his surprise no attack was incoming, although when he turned back to face her, she was wearing the same scowl that she had ever since his loss that morning.


Gai was somewhat perplexed by it, so attributed it to her having bet on him that morning, as during his victorious run many of the Guild members had seemed to have more coin to spend, particularly those he had faced when they had tried to apprehend him. Risty seemed to indicate this was the case as holding up the jug, while pointing at him accusingly with the same hand asked him heatedly, “Why’d you throw that match? You could have easily trounced that waif. Did you hold back because she was your student?”


He was a rather surprised by the passion he heard, since the two of them hadn’t really spoken since the incident with Hayate. Still, he had noticed her during his own victory celebrations often sending appraising looks his way, although he had attributed them to her considering a possible challenge since she had been one of the few to remain standing when she and Pluton had led the effort to capture him. Gai had also been rather intrigued by her, since she appeared to be one of the strongest warriors in the capital, and unlike most adventurers lacked a party of her own. Rather, she hired herself out temporarily when a party’s frontline member was injured, or to newbie groups wanting to learn the ropes from a seasoned vet.


Indicating a nearby chair, Gai said, “Please take a seat, and I’ll explain myself.” Risty looked as if she was about to refuse, but relented as she took the one that he had been using before his arrival. Giving her a moment to get situated, relaxing some as she set the jug on the desk, before he finally stated, “The reason I yielded was because I could not see a path to victory.”


“Bullshit,” Risty replied dismissively, “A fight isn’t over until it is over. You couldn’t know whether or not she could secure the victory until she did so. Hell, that Uzumaki kid faced a Greater demon, and you can’t tell me he started out seeing a path to victory.”


“No, probably not,” Gai stated admitting as much, “Still, I don’t think my match with Tenten had quite the same stakes behind it. Although, I imagine people who betted on me may feel differently.”


Risty scowled at him, but didn’t quite take the bait he had verbally placed by admitting that she would have been one of them, instead she crossed her arms across her chest as she countered, “I’ll give ya that. But I think you owed it to your previous opponents to take the lumps ya had comin if you were so sure you were about to lose.”


Gai frowned before stating, “I cannot say that I agree with such a notion.” Risty’s scowl grew, but before she could add to her argument he asked, “During my time here, I’ve seen a game that some party leader’s play called chess. Do you know it?” Risty nodded, not sure what the foreigner was getting at especially as he followed his question up with another, “And have you ever played it?”


“A time or two,” Risty replied. “Pluton has tried to teach it to me, but it is just so boring.”


Gai chuckled causing the woman’s frown at him to deepen as if she suspected he was mocking her, but he put her at ease by stating, “I feel much the same, particularly since my rival Kakashi has forced me to learn a similar game from my homeland called Shogi due to his selecting it as our competition sometimes upon my challenging him. However, the concept appears to be the same, even if some of the pieces move differently.” Seeing that she was about to ask him to get to the point, he stated, “Those who excel at the game, are not those playing in the moment, but are playing several steps ahead. I feel that the best fighters are often operating on a similar principle, and therefore much like a Shogi master who has seen the game end several moves in the future will surrender as a show of respect. I yielded.”


Risty stood not really accepting the analogy as she said, “A fight isn’t just pieces on a board though. It is hot blooded and passion, I saw that in you during those other fights. Are you saying that was only because you saw yourself being victorious?”


“Hardly,” Gai said, “Although, I would admit that I never really felt most of those other challengers were too impressive.” He could see that Risty was rather insulted by his admission, but pressed on, “In fact, I would say that was what most of them were lacking, which is the ability to see the flow of a fight. Perhaps it is because so many of the enemies your fellow adventurers face are not overly skilled in terms of strategy themselves.” Risty still looked on the verge on anger from his admission, so he asked her, “Let me put it this way. At what point do you think Tenten imagined that she had me beat?”


Risty frowned while remembering the match, and shrugged as she gave up since once Tenten had begun teleporting, the match had become extremely difficult to follow. “I’m guessing you’ll tell me it was several attacks in the future.”


Gai smiled as she looked confused as he replied, “No.” Letting her confusion linger a few moments, he explained, “She had expected her victory would come with her first teleport.”


Risty frowned as her misperception only increased she stated, “B…but you easily avoided her attack, and even managed to counterattacked.”


Gai chuckled, as he stated, “It only appeared easy due to hard training, and lots of experience.” Growing serious he continued, “However, my instincts had screamed at me to leap forward in that instant, and almost any forward leap would have allowed her to cleave me in half had she been using an actual polearm.”


Risty shifted through her memory of the match, but frowned since all she saw was how expertly Gai had reacted to Tenten’s sudden ability to teleport, and had even managed to disarm her of the polearm. “I’m not convinced,” she finally stated, “if you are saying that was everything she was building towards, then it was all the more reason for you to fight. You had the advantage.”


Gai shook his head in the negative, while stating, “No, I only stood a chance up to that point because she wanted to best me close up. Having disarmed her, she fell back onto attacking with projectiles, and with her ability to teleport my own ability to counterattack was almost zero, unless I wanted to use a technique that if it had been a real fight I would have called on. But, as this was not a battle with life or death stakes doing so would be extremely short sighted as the strain on the body is immense.”


He was somewhat surprised when the red-head stated, “It is that one Naruto prevented your student Lee from using during their bout. The one he said could cripple him.”


Nodding Gai replied, “Yes. If I had used it, I would have been able to continue to pressure Tenten and may have even emerged victorious. Although, I’m not sure if the arena would have remained standing in the aftermath.” Risty’s eyes grew wide at his implications, causing him to chuckle before continuing, “However, minus it, Tenten and her clones would have thrown their senbon at a safe distance, making sure to space themselves out so as to always have one of them attacking from my blind spot. Their goal was likely to get me up into the air, at which point I’d only really be able to guard my front effectively. Meaning if the match continued, at best I survive maybe one or two volleys of senbon. The best case scenario for me was that I last long enough to make it to the wall, use it to cover my back, but then I’m slowly picked apart as more and more weapons tossed by her and her clones slowly slip past my guard, and if she was smart or this had been a real battle then one or two would be coated in some drug that sedates me making it so even more eventually get through. I probably last the longest in that scenario, but eventually I still go down.” Gai smiled understandingly as he added, “I can understand your thinking that I should have fought to the bitter end. But, those Shoji masters admit their defeat before the final move not just to protect their egos, although perhaps there is some of that going on, but also to show their respect to a rival and further displaying their own skill by acknowledging their opponent has put them in a no win situation and they see it coming.”


Risty remained silent for a few moments before stating, “I suppose I see where you are coming from. Although, I would have preferred a more decisive finish.”


Gai chuckled as he admitted, “I imagine most of the people who betted on me would. So with that all said, perhaps you can tell me whether or not you intend to use that jug for its intended purpose or not.”


Risty looked at him confused for a moment before stating, “I didn’t bet on your match. I was upset because I couldn’t understand why the passionate warrior with whom I had clashed against, would throw a match when faced with his first real challenge. Yet hearing your explanation, although I’m still disappointed with the finish. I find my estimate of you has grown since you possess wisdom along side your strength.” Risty sat back in the chair as her voice took on a sultry tone as she continued, “As to that jug, forget about it. I have something much sweeter for you to enjoy.”


Gai’s eyes nearly flew out of his head as the scantily clad woman raised one leg and draped it over the arm of the chair that she was sitting in. She then pulled the black panties that she wore to the side as she exposed her pussy to him. She moaned as she rubbed it, before using her middle and index finger to spread her pussy and displayed how wet she was. Meeting his still surprised gaze she stated, “I want to see if you are as big a beast in bed, as you are in battle.”


For the second time that day, Gai was caught completely unaware although this time around he didn’t have nearly the wealth of experience to fall back on. Risty sensing as much smiled and standing began approaching the jumpsuit wearing jounin as she asked with a slight tinge of hope, “Do not tell me that the Mighty Maito Gai has never lain with a woman before?”


“No,” Gai said quickly, his voice cracking higher like a boy just entering puberty. Gaining control of it, which was difficult as Risty unbuckled and dropped the belt that she wore around her hips, he explained, “But, I can’t say that I’ve ever found myself in a similar situation as this.”


“Oh,” The busty red-head responded with genuine surprise as she finished undoing the neck guard she wore, and pulled it forward along with the armor pieces covering her breasts. She quickly pressed her chest against his, and had no trouble maintaining eye contact as she was only an inch or two shorter than him. Her purple eyes looked down as she began tracing along his pecks as she continued, “Then the women of the Leaf must not value strength all that much.” She gripped the zipper of his jump suit and began slowly pulling it down as she explained, “But I do!”


Gai surprised her as one of his hands caught her by the wrist stopping her from unzipping his jumpsuit further. She nearly cooed as a result as although his grip was gentle, his strength had effortless stopped her and she knew it would be quite difficult to overpower him. “Miss Risty…”

“Just Risty is fine,” she replied sweetly.

“Risty,” Gai said starting over, “As I have already said, I can count the number of times a beautiful woman such as yourself has thrown themselves at me on a single finger. Moreover, where I come from when they do, there is usually an alternative reason.”


Risty found the strength to pull her hand free of his grip as she stepped back, as her eyes blazed with fury while stating, “Well that doesn’t say much for Konoha women now does it.”


Gai ignored the insult since he had meant kunoichi in general, and explaining his questioning of his good fortune stated, “I do not mean to insult you. But, where I come from we shinobi have three prohibitions, alcohol, women, and money.”


Risty’s eyes grew wide as she looked down at his crotch before asking, “You’re not a eunuch are ya?”


“What?!” Gai replied quickly, “Gods above no. Our prohibitions are not meant to say that we go without, just that we don’t get swept up in the moment and lose our heads.” He grew a little somber as he said, “It’s just this has never happened, and specifically our only real interaction before this moment was us exchanging blows.”


Risty calmed, and again approached the green clad jounin as she said, “Surely, with all your vast experience with fighting, you’ve been able to determine something of a person’s character from a simple exchange of blows.”


Gai inclined his head as he replied, “Indeed, and from our own brief encounter it is easy to see you possess great strength and character. Particularly as many of your fellow adventurers hid behind your shield once I had thinned out your numbers some. Still, while I suspect you have a wild, untamed spirit. I’m still unsure as to why you would desire me.”


Risty was pleased by his appraisal and said, “That is because while I was drawn to you the moment I first laid eyes on ya, what I felt from our first encounter was that I had just met the man with whom I wanted to share my nights with.” Gai was quite surprised by her revelation as she continued, “If you’re hung up on our lack of knowledge in regards to each other, then you should know that I was raised as the adopted daughter of my tribe’s chief, who was a good strong man like you until he was betrayed and murdered by a traitor who lusted for power. One who’s head I crushed beneath my mace. For a time, I led my tribe as bandits against the corrupt nobles that flourished under Queen Brahne’s rule, but when she was deposed by her daughter, business dried up and I found running a tribe was rather boring so I became an adventurer. Which led me here. The End.”


“Perhaps it would be better to say, the beginning,” Gai suggested deciding to trust the insights that he had gained from his brief clash with the woman. Sealing his lips against hers, he delighted in the slight lingering taste of sake that he could detect and wondered if she had drunk some of the jugs contents to fortify her courage. His hands reached behind her and cupped her ass which prompt her to leap up and cling to him as she also kicked off her sandals which flew off into the room. He effortless supported her weight, but rather than taking her to his bed, carried her to the desk he had been at while studying earlier. Gai stepped back and as he did gripped the band of her thong panties. Risty raised her legs and pointed her toes towards the ceiling as Gai pulled the black thong up them like a flag pole which he tossed aside once they were free. He stepped back and admired the now completely naked sun kissed woman’s body, particularly the junction between her long legs as she lowered them and held them spread open, which awakened a thirst within him that he needed to quench.


Risty moaned out from atop of the desk as Gai’s mouth clamped down over her pussy, and his tongue began lapping at the petals of her flower. One of her hands began playing with her tit while she had intended to use the other to steady herself, but upon bumping the jug that she had set atop of it, allowed a mischievous smile to appear. Taking it in hand, she pulled the stopper and began pouring the jugs contents down her body. Gai looked up as the sake began mixing with her own flavor, which prompted him to lick the sake up from her body before coming face to face with her once more before kissing her and sharing with her the new flavor that she had created.


A flavor that Risty enjoyed, but found herself hungering for something more robust. Pushing Gai back, she slipped off of the table and sliding her hands inside his jumpsuit by the shoulder quickly pushed/pulled it free of them and down his body as she dropped to her knees. Where, Risty found herself wondering if Gai had a third arm as she eyed the outline of long appendage which was held down along his right thigh and seemed to barely be contained by the green boxer briefs that he wore. Risty gripping the hem of his underwear pulled them down, and lowered her head down as she helped Gai step out of them along with the legs of his jumpsuit. Once he was free, she moved back to her kneeling position, but as she passed underneath his cock she ran her tongue along underneath it. Gai groaned and she quickly set about giving his rod a sponge bath with her tongue. Eventually Gai desired more stimulation, and gripping her by the back of the head, pulled her mouth onto his meat rod before beginning to fuck her mouth. Risty raised her hands up to his muscular abs just in case she needed to put the breaks on him, but found Gai knew just how far he could push himself without making it uncomfortable for her, and so lost herself in tracing out his muscles as she sucked on his meat stick. Still, due to his size it wasn’t long before her jaw began to ache, which Gai seemed to infer as she began to move her head faster in an effort to push him to completion. But, she suspected that he hadn’t been anywhere close as he instead pulled her up to her feet, where he kissed her passionately before telling her, “Let’s take this to the bed.”


Risty still felt a little dazed from the kiss, and nodded in agreement as Gai guided her to the suite’s bedroom. Reaching the foot of the bed, he paused allowing her to climb on first, which she did like a jungle cat with the intention of turning to face him. But, Gai had other plans as he instead gripped her ass possessively, and pulled it back towards him. “Oooooooh,” she cooed as her pussy was stretched out more and more as he fed it his dick inch by magnificent inch, which as he did so slow but steadily made the feeling seem to stretch on forever. When he was fully buried inside her, she had never felt so full and tried to keep him in as he began pulling out. But, he gave her ass a quick smack which caused her to move in the opposite direction. She moaned loudly when before he slipped completely free of her snatch. Gai again gripped her hips and pulled himself back in. Risty arms grew weak as the pleasure she experienced grew overwhelming as Gai began pounding her with powerful thrusts that which shook her world along with the bed as she exploded into a powerful climax. Gai groaned as he paused due to her velvet walls beginning to milk him for his seed despite the strength seeming to have left her body as she collapsed to fall face first into the mattress.


When her pussy began to settle down, he resumed his thrusts pulling small murmurs of contentment from her as she seemed lost in her own little world. One which she began to emerge from as she felt another climax preparing to explode from within her. This time she felt that he was close as well as he seemed to grow even bigger within her, and so moaning out said, “Spin me over!”


A request Gai was more then willing to fulfill as he slipped out of her only for as long as it took to flip her onto her back. Risty cried out as she arched her back due to it seeming as if he hadn’t missed a beat even as the way that he felt as he moved within her seemed completely different from just a heartbeat earlier. Gai groaned as he tried to hold out long enough to send her over once more, but felt that was a race that he was going to lose so began to pull back with the intention of finishing her off with his fingers after first painting her skin with his load. However, Risty sensing this quickly locked her legs around him prompting Gai to panickily state, “Wait! I’m about to…”


“I know,” Risty moaned as she used her legs to keep her own movements up and running her hand over her stomach added, “and you’re going to do so right in here.”


Gai was conflicted as the temptation to do so grew more irresistible by the moment, not to mention impossible to avoid. But, while he didn’t have any Kekkei Genkai for her to steal, his own sensei‘s warnings about the dangers of allowing ones genetic heritage to be stolen quickly raced through his mind, which admittedly likely had been advise of more relevance to his sensei considering how he was the current head of the Akimichi Clan, Chouza.


Risty sensing his hesitance, and figuring it was again something related to the prohibitions that he had mentioned asked, “Do you think I’ll enjoy Konoha?”


Gai couldn’t contain his surprise, as he asked, “You mean, you’d be willing to leave with me?”


Displaying her own powerfully built muscles, she used her legs and abs to pull herself up to face him causing them both to shiver as she began grinding her hips down into his groin while stating, “What is a beast without his beauty, and I already told you that I wanted you to share my nights with me. As in all of them.”


Gai couldn’t really believe his luck, but the matter was taken out of his hands as her continuously swaying hips finally wore him down. With a guttural groan, he pulled her hips tight against him and began planting his seed inside her fertile womb which caused her to scream out in pleasure as she joined him in release.


“MMMmmm,” Risty moaned as she held herself close to Gai feeling like a puzzle piece that had finally met its match, “Now this is something I’m going to enjoy getting used to.”


“As will I,” Gai said lifting his bronzed partner up until his still hard cock was at her entrance again, before pulling her back down and causing her to cry in bliss.


*****************************************************************************


Author’s notes: Hello everyone, to begin let me thank those who take the time to read and review my story. They are deeply appreciated. I hope this chapter proves to be enjoyable. I had a few more scenes planned, namely one that would focus on Lee and his feelings in regards to what happened, and another focusing on Tenten, but figured that I’d just work those scenes into the current arc. Tenten’s will probably be the second scene in chapter 102, with Lee’s being undecided at this point.

Also, I should I’ll be releasing a poll in the coming weeks, as to who would replace Mabui as Raikage's assistant. So far the candidates I am likely going to include in the poll are.

1. Jackie Tristan (Bleach)
2. Yor Briar (Spy X Family)
3. Hououmaru Rei (Kill La Kill)
4. Kochou (Sekirei)

To the people that have made suggestions. Thank you, if I haven’t included them well the reasons are I may already have plans for that character to appear in a different capacity, or their abilities don’t really jive with the world of shinobi. I thank you though, and I’m still open to suggestions.

Well, I hope this chapter is a good appetizer. I am working on the next chapter, but it will probably still be another month or two until it is ready. Work is keeping me pretty busy, and I’m trying to maximize my outdoor time for the summer. I thank you all for your continued reading, and hopefully enjoyment of this story.

So until next time, Take Care! Sincerely, The Lemon Sage.